A Fool's Gambit
by Boot Sequence
Summary: A tale of a guardian's Gambit-related woes.


**A Fool's Gambit**

"_There can be no hope in this hell… no hope at all."_

_-The Ancestor (Darkest Dungeon)_

* * *

Why am I doing this to myself?

I ask myself that question every day. And every day, the answer's the same: I want to be able to say I did it. Isn't that why everyone else is here, doing the same thing? It's either that or Stockholm Syndrome.

It all started a few months ago. Somehow, I got roped into the Drifter's scheme. He calls it Gambit, but I call it hell. Then he gave it a few touch-ups and made Gambit Prime, which really isn't that much better if you ask me. Nonetheless, it's all we've got to do right now, so Gambit Prime has basically become my life.

I don't know why I'm so dedicated to getting the most out of Gambit. It's probably one part chasing glory, one part sunk cost fallacy. I want to wear that Dredgen title, and I'm in too deep to bail out now. All or nothing, brother.

So, let's see how things go today.

Right away, we're fighting Scorn. Wonderful. I glance around at my team. There's myself, the invader, and… two other people? Where's our fourth? Eh, who cares. One of my teammates is a collector, and the other one's not even wearing any Gambit Prime armor. He's also got a Merciless on his back. That's a weapon I haven't thought about in a long time.

How about the enemy team? These guys came to play. They've got every role filled, and they're already high fiving each other. Guess they're not impressed with us. I let out a sigh; I can already see where this is going.

The Drifter transmats us into battle, and we take off. The first group of hostiles comes into view, and we start firing. The Scorn go down easy enough, but those raiders are really annoying to deal with. We gather up the motes and take them back to the bank. I pick up some heavy ammo on the way, and we all head for the next group.

One of my teammates gets taken out by a screeb and loses a few motes. Not a big deal. I revive him and we keep shooting. Somewhere on the way, the collector gathers up enough motes for a giant blocker. And of course, as soon as he gets close to the bank, two taken captains drop in. Him and I take an obscenely long time to take care of them, but we get it done and he sends his giant blocker.

The invasion portal opens up, and I bring out my Hammerhead. This is where I excel; invading is my element. Gambit matches tend to live and die on the invader, so this is a pivotal moment.

Wait, why did the other guy invade? He didn't even have any Gambit Prime armor. He's using a Merciless and a rocket launcher. He's running code of the missile, for the Traveler's sake!

I grumble to myself for a bit before I slink off toward the next group of hostiles. I notice we finally have a fourth, and he seems to be pulling his weight. He's got the signature green armor of a reaper, and he's currently going wild with a shotgun. He and the collector are working well together, and I try to help them out by picking a few enemies off with my hand cannon.

Our invader dies without getting a single kill, and we get invaded ourselves. We don't have a sentry, so I ready my Hammerhead again and start searching. The collector gets sniped from somewhere and drops thirteen motes, and the reaper soon gets killed the same way. I take cover and toss a blind grenade, and it finds no success. The invader rushes me, and I hit him with a few shots before he guns me down with an SMG. The Recluse, of course.

As soon as I drop, a rocket flies in out of nowhere and blows the invader to kingdom come. Our would-be invader jumps in and revives us, and we try to recover from our losses. We're down thirty motes by now, so I'm pretty pessimistic.

By the time we get our invasion portal open again, the enemy team already has their primeval. At this point, I've given up all hope of winning, so I decide the best thing I can do is make the other team's lives hell. I load up my Hammerhead and step through the portal.

As soon as I drop in, I head toward the enemy guardians. They're already ripping the envoys apart and gathering in the pool of light. Their sentry is on watch, but he hasn't seen me yet. Perfect…

So anyway, I start blasting. I take down a couple guardians before the sentry starts shooting me. I jump into the air and throw out a blade barrage, taking him out. I notice that's only three guardians accounted for, but my timer runs out before I can do anything else.

When I get sent back, I find we're being invaded, so at least I know where the fourth guy went. Unfortunately, I can't find him before he cracks me through the skull with that sniper rifle of his. By the time I respawn, the enemy primeval is mostly dead and I've resigned myself to another defeat.

That doesn't stop me from invading, though. I charge right through that portal guns blazing, looking for some revenge. I'll take as many of them down with me as I can!

…Which ends up being zero, because I eat a Jötunn blast from the sentry before I even know what hit me. I get disintegrated and sent back to my side just in time for the enemy team to finish killing their primeval.

I sink to my knees in despair. I don't listen to the Drifter chewing me out for being a snitch. I don't care about the Titan punching me in the head. I don't pay any mind to the collector sprinkling salt on me. I'm completely numb to it all after hundreds upon hundreds of Gambit matches.

I am a broken man. Xol was right – there really is no light here.


End file.
